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The state and class discipline

European labour market policy after the financial crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID7706586
AuthorsCharles Umney (0000-0001-5757-920X, University of Leeds, corresponding author), Ian Greer (0000-0002-4441-4999, Cornell University), Özlem Onaran (0000-0002-6345-9922, University of Greenwich), Graham Symon (University of Greenwich)
Year2018
Volume42
Issue2
Pages333-351
Publication date2018-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCapital & Class (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0309-8168 • E-ISSN: 2041-0980
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0309816817738318
OpenAlexW2178039346
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited79

This article looks at two related labour market policies that have persisted and even proliferated across Europe both before and after the financial crisis: wage restraint and punitive workfare programmes. It asks why these policies, despite their weak empirical records, have been so durable. Moving beyond comparative-institutionalist explanations which emphasise institutional stickiness, it draws on Marxist and Kaleckian ideas around the concept of ‘class discipline’. It argues that under financialisation, the need for states to implement policies that discipline the working class is intensified, even if these policies do little to enable (and may even counteract) future stability. Wage restraint and punitive active labour market policies are two examples of such measures. Moreover, this disciplinary impetus has subverted and marginalised regulatory labour market institutions, rather than being embedded within them

Economics · Financial crisis · Labour economics · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Marxist philosophy · Political economy · Political science · Punitive damages · Wage · Workfare · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Political Economy and Marxism · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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Unique citing works17
Citations per year2,43
Citation span2019 - 2025 (7)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 16
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